18 October 2019 EBacc entry rate increases to 40%

Provisional data published by the Department for Education shows that the EBacc entry rate rose to 40% in 2019, from 38.4% last year

Entries in humanities rose to 80.6% and in science to 95.6%; those in English and mathematics were unchanged at 95.8% and 97.3% respectively

However, entries in languages rose by 0.5 percentage pints to 46.6%

7 October 2019 Science and language teachers to get up to £9000 retention bonus

The DfE has announced that, from 2020, new teachers with degrees in physics and chemistry, or in languages such as French or Spanish, would be eligible for 'early career payments' if they worked in state schools for four years after they completed their training; those with mathematics degrees already receive the payments

The retention bonuses will be paid in their second, third and four years, totalling £6000 and rising to £9000 for those working in the regions of highest demand

3 October 2019 Over 1000 schools not inspected by Ofsted for 10 years

Research by the BBC has shown that there are 1010 schools rated as outstanding that have not had an Ofsted inspection for ten years; 24 of them have not had an inspection since September 2016

The Department for Education plans to lift the exemption on routine inspections for outstanding schools that has been in place since 2012